Kahn was a piano playing child prodigy - but because of how poor his family was, Kahn was forced to work odd jobs to support them.

Kahn wanted to become an artist, but was colorblind. As a teenager, Kahn won a scholarship to study abroad in Europe, where he found his love to architecture.

In 1895, Kahn founded the firm Albert Kahn Associates, where Kahn and his younger brother Julius developed a new style of construction, where reinforced concrete replaced wood in factory walls, and roofs.

Their first development, designed in 1903, was the Packard Motor Car Company's factory, also known as the Packard Plant. The success of the Packard caught the attention of Henry Ford.

Kahn designed Ford's Highland Park plant in 1909, and later designed the Ford River Rouge Complex in Dearborn in 1917, which grew into the largest manufacturing complex in the country.

Kahn worked on more than 1,000 commissions from Ford and hundreds for other automakers. His firm grew into the go-to team for the biggest building projects in the area.

Some of the projects included the Fisher Building, Willow Run, The Dearborn Inn, the original Cass Technical High School, First National Building and the Detroit Athletic Club, to name a few. (Full list below!)

When the Great Depression hit, Kahn and his firm designed 521 factories in the Soviet Union and trained more than 1,000 engineers.

Kahn was best known for his industrial projects, but also took on many clubs, hotels and office buildings. He also designed many buildings for the University of Michigan.

By 1937, Kahn was responsible for 19 percent of all architect-designed factories in the U.S.

In 1941, Kahn was the eighth highest paid man in the U.S., earning $486,936.